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Control freak at work. Disaster zone at home?Sarra Manning was a high-achieving editor but her domestic life was in chaos. Recognise her dilemma? Time to send in the mess therapist. Are you a detail-obsessed control freak in the office, with an iron-like grip on the minutiae of your life, while at home, the second you close the front door, the shopping gets dropped on the floor alongside the accumulating pairs of shoes? If so, you're like me - you have a schizoid attitude towards tidiness. I don't know what your excuse is but mine is that my life is too short to organise my cutlery drawer when I'm a high-achieving, creative free spirit! I'm so organised at work, I can't be bothered to keep it up at home. After three decades, nothing's going to get me to see the error of my wicked, slatternly messy ways. Yet, despite my chaotic streak, when it comes to my career, I kick some serious ass. I've spent 12 years clawing my way up from lackeydom on teen mags to editing two fashion magazines and was managing large teams of staff. They soon get used to the schizoid split of my pathological attention to detail while I sit at the messiest desk in the Western Hemisphere. And for the past three years, I've spent my evenings and weekends slaving away as a writer of best-selling teen fiction with a transatlantic deal. Who needs a social life when I have an Amazon sales ranking? Quite frankly, I'm exhausted. So the plan to go freelance and write witty articles and a grown-up novel seemed like a really good idea. Until I realised I had to do it at home... Now, it's all going horribly wrong. My study is a teetering mound of boxes from work that I haven't unpacked and there's a year's worth of filing on the 'Shelf of Doom'. In six months' time, I'm going to be foreclosing on my mortgage payments and moving in to a well-appointed cardboard box. It's time to get professional help. I need someone who can get to the root cause of my sloppy mental processes. After all, if I can multi-task in the office, why can't I do the same at home? You know the feeling - you can meet a deadline, get all your work done, but you can't find a matching set of bra and knickers at home. Enter Rachel Stark of Clutterfree, a professional coach and mentor, who got into the de-clutter business when a shopaholic friend asked for her help to sort out the many clothes still in their carrier bags months after she swore her life wouldn't be complete without them. Rachel believes that 'making changes in life can be difficult - it can be invaluable to have someone impartial to help you prioritise and focus on your goals.' OK, whatever. Rachel casted a careful eye around the Art-Deco stylings of my front room and said, 'This is a lovely flat. It looks really tidy.' She gave me an assessing look. 'So, is this what it looks like after you've tidied it up for your cleaner?' And that was the thing with Rachel. She was totally on to me and took my whiny excuses for being a slacker calmly. She also had a knack for asking seemingly innocuous questions that had me delving deep into myself for the answers. I finally admitted that my study (despite my natty floor-to-ceiling shelving system) and walk-in wardrobe (which looks like the Selfridges sale racks) made my heart sink to the bottom of my Marc Jacobs pumps - and let's not even talk about the Shelf of Doom. I'd spent the last two weeks with this panicky feeling in the pit of my stomach because I had no money coming in but I couldn't motivate myself to start slaving over a hot keyboard. That's mainly because I couldn't find it. By lunchtime, under Rachel's guidance, I had had a revelation. The mess never mattered when I worked in an office - it was just a quirky character flaw. Now I'm surrounded by flotsam as far as the eye can see, it was destroying my motivation and drive. More prodding from Rachel reveals that without the distractions of a high-powered job, I am floundering under the domestic chaos, especially without proper deadlines. Seems even this over-achieving, creative spirit needs some structure. 'We can break these habits and get you into new routines,' says Rachel. 'Let's pick a place to start.' We devised a timetable that would carve out time for those household chores that fester until they become gargantuan tasks that seem insurmountable. Then we started on the study. If I'd been doing it solo, it would have taken weeks, but with Rachel there, clutching a bin bag, we accomplished it in an hour. And as one pile of crap (that's the technical name) got cleared, there was impetus to keep going. By the time Rachel left, my study was all shiny and beautiful and I was mainlining on that warm glow of satisfaction that I hadn't felt since I waved goodbye to the nine to five. OK, there hadn't been time to tackle the Shelf of Doom, but I could see my scanner for the first time in months. Rachel provides an aftercare service for her clients so she promised to call me for a weekly half-hour consultation to ensure my sparkly new habits don't slip into my old, messy ones. It's so simple to make small changes that make big differences. Now I set my alarm an hour earlier instead of just waking up and then dozing for an extra 60 minutes. That pre-breakfast half hour has become my official de-clutter time. I've organised space, bought hangers and door hooks -and these little oases of calm are making me happier and able to focus on the scary stuff. I've also accomplished something tangible - I took the computer game icons out of the dock so I can resist their siren song. My PJs have been banished and I get dressed and even slap on some red lippy, so I feel like I'm back in the office. Even my shoes no longer live in a filing cabinet but are all arranged neatly according to genre on a spare set of book shelves -very Carrie Bradshaw. There's no mystical secret to de-cluttering. You still have to tidy up and find the motivation to change, but working with a de-clutterer like Rachel helps you to realise why you've slipped into this cycle of domestic despair and gives you tools and strategies to do something about it. My life might seem transitional and scary at the moment, but knowing that I can achieve something -even if it's simply filing my bank statements - has taken on a new significance. So I'm not a changed woman; I'm a changing woman who can now see her wardrobe floor. I can be self-disciplined, self-motivated and self-sufficient in the privacy of my own home, too. I might not be able to control the vagaries of commissioning editors and potential agents, but I can control the messy hinterland beneath my desk. Now you try it tooSet the clock – When you have a spare half hour, don't fritter it away. Promise yourself you'll use this dead time to start tackling the mess. Go shopping – Head to a shop like Muji and stock up on storage boxes and other household gewgaws. You'll feel the warm glow of getting a shopping fix, plus ticking one task off your to-do list. Positive attitude – A mantra will help to get you in a de-cluttered frame of mind. Something along the lines of, Tm good enough, I'm smart enough, people like me-especially when they're not worried about getting botulism when they come round for nibbles'. Stick it on your bathroom mirror and chant 10 times in the morning and at night. Two-minute rule – Rachel Stark swears by the rule that 'if it'll take less than two minutes, do it now.' In two minutes, you can hang up six dresses, put the week's magazines in the recycling bin or clear your fridge. Tidy up – Face it, those dirty clothes aren't going to walk to the laundry basket by themselves, young lady! From Elle magazine, September 2005.
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